1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fire escapes and, more particularly, to an external fire escape which allows individuals to escape from any exposed side wall of a high-rise building into compartments which descend along the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of high-rise apartment and office buildings has been accompanied by the need for providing a means by which people living or working in such high-rise buildings can escape or be rescued in the event of fire. Indeed, casualties, either by fire, smoke inhalation and/or unsuccessful jumps to safety ar of growing concern and there is a continuing need for providing more advanced and more practical means for escape and/or rescue.
Traditional external fire escapes which are often provided on buildings having a relatively few stories have the disadvantage that individuals retreating from the fire and smoke must walk or run up or down the stairs of the fire escape. Such an escape system is impractical for handicapped individuals and the elderly as well as individuals who have been injured during the course of the fire. Furthermore, such external fire escapes are typically not provided on high-rise buildings because they are generally not aesthetically pleasing.
Thus, for high-rise buildings sprinklers systems together with fire and smoke detectors and internal fire escapes in the form of isolated stairwells have been relied upon to contain fires, to alert the occupants of the presence of a fire, and to allow escape therefrom in the early stages of the fire, respectively. While early warning of the presence of a fire and/or smoke certainly decreases the likelihood that individuals will become victims of the fire, the provision of internal stairwells for escape has a problem common to external fire escapes, that is that the injured, handicapped and elderly will have difficulty traversing the same. Furthermore, access to such stairwells may be blocked by the fire and only limited access to the building interior is provided thereby for rescue workers.